My first buy from a recommended vendor!

My order from dragon tea house arrived today. First time I've bought from outside Ireland, and first time using a teachat recommended vendor! Woah, does it make all the difference.

Opening the bags, the aroma from each of my teas hit me in the face full on, so much more concentrated than any tea I've bought here, a much fresher scent in each. The leaves look more consistent and colourful, all round the quality (for a CHEAPER price) was fantastic! Must say, it makes all the difference!

I bought a Taiwan Alishan High Mountain Oolong, which to my untrained palate is extremely similar to the Tie Guan Yin I had previously.

Second was a Premium An Ji Bai Pian Green, which was very sweet and fresh tasting, and such a beautiful green coloured leaf!

Finally a Supreme Bai Hao Yin Zhen White, that intrigued me. Unlike my previous experiences with white tea, the aroma was overwhelmingly intoxicating from the dry leaf. The first brew yielded a delicate sweetness with a grainy, almost rice like flavour lingering in the backround and long after each sip. However, on second brew this flavour was absent sadly, and the flavour diminished quite quickly! Subsequent brews were more astringent, delicately sweet as the first and I guess slightly "vegetal" as the bag suggested, which in my words would be slightly grassy. I think this tea holds more exploration, and next time I'm alone I'll put on some music and really explore the hidden flavours.

Hope this isn't wrongly placed, I wanted to share my first really enjoyable purchase with you all, as opposed to rating each tea separately!

I'd love to hear from anyone who has tried these, and your recommendations on brewing temp., quantity etc...

Most white teas are at their best in the first or second infusion, and while I often will push them to 4-6 infusions, that's as often as not because I'm too lazy to get up and prep a different tea. Greener TGY and an Alishan should be quite distinct, but similar enough in being bright floral sweet light oxidation oolongs; it might take a side by side comparison, however, to make it really clear. Do you have any of the TGY left?

debunix wrote:Greener TGY and an Alishan should be quite distinct, but similar enough in being bright floral sweet light oxidation oolongs; it might take a side by side comparison, however, to make it really clear. Do you have any of the TGY left?

I do indeed! Probably enough for 2 more brews, at least one! I'll try that, although I only have one Gaiwan so there will be inconsistency in brewing method.

You can probably spot the difference just with serial brewing, but you might also consider brewing a very small quantity of each leaf 'grandpa style' in a mug for several minutes--no need for two gaiwans, and you can sip from one to the other until the differences are fixed in your mind. IME they are very distinct, though I have trouble articulating the difference.

debunix wrote:You can probably spot the difference just with serial brewing, but you might also consider brewing a very small quantity of each leaf 'grandpa style' in a mug for several minutes--no need for two gaiwans, and you can sip from one to the other until the differences are fixed in your mind. IME they are very distinct, though I have trouble articulating the difference.

I did this just there. The Alishan was very bitter after a minute when compared to the tie guan yin which was mildly bitter in comparison. I think I could sense a slight difference, but it was rather difficult and I don't think I could tell the difference in a normal brew yet... Sadly I have less than a gram of tie guan yin left so I don't think I can compare again.

I did however get a Formosa Jade Dong Ding the other day, and it got bitter gonfu style very quickly so I can sense a difference there immediately, but again, the floral nature of the teas comes out immediately to me and clouds my ability to tell the difference, so I think I'm going to work on tasting the undertones etc...